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“Government puts energy and gas service and investment at risk”

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“Government puts energy and gas service and investment at risk”

To the positions that different unions have assumed due to President Gustavo Petro’s decision to take control of the public services regulation commissions, yesterday was added that of the Colombian Association of Electric Power Generators (Acolgen).

Last Thursday, the president said in Duitama that “this president has decided not to delegate his functions to the public service regulation commissions, at least for a while. So I am going to assume control of the general administration policies of public services in Colombia directly and personally, based on what the law says: first the general interest and that of the user”.

In a statement, Acolgen indicates that “the recently announced signs of resuming the regulatory functions of residential public services weaken the institutional framework and with this put at risk the confidence of the agents that provide these services to execute the public and private investments necessary to guarantee them, including that the projects that will allow the country to advance in the energy transition process will probably be affected, which would harm all Colombians.”

The generators maintain that “the electricity and natural gas sectors, since Laws 142 and 143 of 1994 have had a robust and stable institutional framework, which has allowed all stakeholders, including the government, investors, and public, private, and mixed companies , let us work in an articulated manner, achieving, in the last three decades, significant improvements in coverage and quality of these two essential public services for citizens”.

Legal security

The union points out that “it is essential to guarantee legal certainty, which allows for reasonable and stable rules, and to maintain the independence of regulatory entities, to ensure the reliability of the systems and, therefore, of the electricity and gas services natural, avoiding situations that jeopardize the continuous provision of services, due to decision-making without sufficient technical support.

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Acolgen assures, however, that “on behalf of the unions we represent and our affiliated companies, we ratify our entire willingness to work together with the National Government, headed by the President of the Republic and his delegated entities, to seek sustainable solutions and improvements.” and with technical rigor, which contribute to the current situation, within the framework of the institutional framework and the best practices recommended in matters of public policy and sectoral regulation”.

The regulation commissions were created to guarantee competition and defend the rights of users, in accordance with the provisions of Law 142 of 1994, being the Commission for the Regulation of Drinking Water and Basic Sanitation (CRA); the Energy and Fuel Gas Regulation Commission (CREG), and the Communications Regulation Commission (CRC).



A danger

Acolgen joined Andesco’s position. Its president, Camilo Sánchez, said that “it is very dangerous to make dictatorial decisions, because they seem good at first, but the only thing that the history of the residents has shown is that the poorest are harmed, because in the end you lose the good service you have in the different services”.

Sánchez highlighted in his reaction that there is something very important in Colombia, which is subsidies. “For people who do not have resources, and we are talking about that, it is to improve the issue of subsidies, focus them on people who do not have the resources to pay,” he insisted.

For his part, Alejandro Castañeda, president of the National Association of Generating Companies (Andeg), commented that this would be expected to occur within a framework of respect for the institutionality of public services and to look at what precedents there are.

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“In other words, the known precedent is that at certain times the president effectively resumes functions and makes adjustments from a regulatory point of view, but these adjustments are related to specific issues,” noted the union leader.

Likewise, he added that we will have to wait to see how this type of announcements are defined, what things are going to be taken into account and how the process will be carried out.

“At the moment, the president is effectively the rector of the policy on residential public services and can exercise regulation, supervision and control activities over them. We would have to wait to find out what he is thinking and how he will assume it, ”he emphasized.

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